Browsing: Travel

A Brief History On May 26, 1951, Sally Ride was born in Los Angeles, California.  She would grow up to earn BA, BS, MS and PhD diplomas from Stanford University, and in June of 1983 became the first American woman to take a ride into space, via the Space Shuttle Challenger. Digging Deeper Ride became the third woman space explorer, having been preceded into space by Soviet cosmonauts Belarusian Valentina Tereshkova in 1963 and Russian Svetlana Savitskaya in 1982. Since the flights of these history making women, women have made over 75 space flights by at least 70 women.  In…

A Brief History On May 24, 1962, an American Atlas LV-3B rocket blasted off, carrying astronaut Scott Carpenter in his Project Mercury space capsule he had named Aurora 7, the 6th manned space flight in history. Digging Deeper Manned space flight began in April of 1961 when Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin made his historic trip into orbit, and a month later the Americans launched astronaut Alan Shepard into space, although on a sub-orbital flight. Project Mercury was the NASA answer to the Soviet Vostok manned space capsule, and each Mercury capsule contained a single astronaut.  Designed by Belize born engineer…

A Brief History On May 13, 2023, Americans can celebrate the annual National Train Day, a day invented by Amtrak back in 2008, but cancelled for 2016 due to budget cuts! Digging Deeper Have you heard of any other “National” Days that have been eliminated?  Trains have had it rough in recent decades and even in recent weeks.  On February 3, 2023, a train carrying tanker cars of Vinyl Chloride derailed at East Palestine, Ohio and created an environmental disaster and political controversy. Trains helped build the United States and much of the world, with a peak of railroad employees…

A Brief History On May 7, 1718, the city of New Orleans in what is now the State of Louisiana was founded by Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville, the French Governor of Louisiana in what was then New France, the French colonial enterprise in North America. Digging Deeper Also called Sieur de Bienville, Bienville was born in Ville-Marie, now Montreal, Quebec, New France, now Canada, and was sent by French colonial authorities to the Gulf Coast to explore and establish a foothold for France. Bienville’s travels led to the founding of Mobile, Alabama and Biloxi, Mississippi as well as New…

A Brief History On March 2, 1978, space exploration history was made when Vladimír Remek, a pilot, politician, and diplomat from Czechoslovakia became the first person in space that was not Russian or American. Digging Deeper Remek lifted off aboard Soviet space craft Soyuz 28 for an 8-day trip to outer space, heading to the Soviet space station, Salyut 6.  A former pilot in the Czechoslovakian Air Force, Remek was hailed a national hero and even was awarded the Hero of the Soviet Union medal by the USSR.  He parlayed his renown into a career in politics, serving as a…